Death's Library
by Laura Schiller
Summary: A drabble collection for the entire trilogy. Spoilers.
1. Walking

Death's Library

By Laura Schiller

Based on the Seven Kingdoms Trilogy

Copyright: Kristin Cashore

(Note: The prompts for these drabbles are taken from a set of fifty prompts, ten of each starting with the same letter, which are commonly used for one-sentence challenges in many different fandoms. If someone could tell me where these prompts originally came from, I will mention it in a disclaimer.)

1. Walking

_There is no shame in crawling when one cannot walk, _Po told her once – but as Bitterblue crawls on her hands and knees across the snow-covered Winged Bridge, huddled against the icy wind, nauseous with the memory of Thiel's suicide, she feels more ashamed than ever before in her life. Not because of the height. Because she couldn't save him.

_Be free of this._ Thiel's last words. But how?

Thinking of Saf behind her, the warm support of his purple eyes, makes her feel ever so slightly better. She pulls herself to her feet.

"I will not be afraid."


	2. Waltz

2. Waltz (Katsa/Po)

Katsa and Po dance the way they fight: fiercely, brilliantly, and with an intimate knowledge of each other's bodies which only two Graceling fighters who have been lovers for eight years can achieve.

"I feel ridiculous." Katsa tugs at the sleeveless turquoise silk gown Helda coaxed her into wearing for the Monsean winter gala.

"You look lovely." Po leads her through a double turn, making the dress swirl like seawater. "Besides … I'll get it off you soon enough."

She purrs like the wildcat he named her, sending him images that make it rather challenging to keep his steps straight.


	3. Wishes

3. Wishes (Ashen)

Ashen made so many pointless wishes in her life: _I wish my child had a better father._ _I wish Leck had never chosen me._ _I wish Thiel would stop tormenting himself over things he cannot change._ _I wish my husband were dead. _She embroidered them onto her sheets, unsteady fingers bleeding from the jabs of her needle, fighting desperately for the sanity she felt slipping away.

If only she had known that her last wish, thought-spoken to her nephew as she reached out with gold-flashing hands, would come gloriously true.

_Take care of my daughter. Help her to be strong._


	4. Wonder

4. Wonder (Fire, Hanna)

Fire is used to people being astonished at her beauty: the scarlet-gold-magenta of her hair, her emerald eyes, her luminous skin and the soft curves of her body. She knows it, and she hates it. This feeling is miles apart in difference.

The first time she plays for an audience after the loss of her fingers, the last notes of her fiddle fall into silence. Brocker's head is bowed. Tessa is crying.

"That was _wonderful!_" Hanna exclaims, gray eyes shining in delight. "Play it again! Please?"

Fire feels as if a candle has been lit inside her soul.


	5. Worry

5. Worry (Helda, Katsa, Bitterblue)

Helda has often been told that she worries too much. _Stop fussing!_ Lady Katsa will exclaim, rolling her green-blue eyes. _Really, Helda, I can take care of this_, Queen Bitterblue will say with quiet exasperation.

But with a queen who sneaks out at night to drink with thieves, a prince and a lady stirring up revolution in three countries, scheming advisers, a shady Graceling spy and a missing crown, what's a spymistress to do but worry?

And if none of them will listen to her advice, at least she can still watch. She may be ageing, but she's certainly not blind.


	6. Whimsy

6. Whimsy (Bitterblue/Sapphire)

Bitterblue dreams of friendly living teapots, talking candlesticks with silly accents, and a footstool that barks like a dog and settles down under her feet. She dreams of dancing on a cloud in glass slippers (very comfortable ones, too) as her dress shifts from blue to pink and back again. Her dancing partner's eyes are purple, and his grin delightfully familiar as he holds her close.

She wakes up smiling. But through the course of paperwork, arguments and headaches that is her day, her smile slowly fades.

_Thank you, Saf … but how much longer until I can hold you in person?_

_(Author's Note: Apologies to Disney.)_


	7. Wasteland

7. Waste/Wasteland (Death, Lovejoy)

The smell of woodsmoke and burned paper is still heavy in the air. Most of the shelves have collapsed. Ashy fragments of pages litter the floor. The desk is a wreck, barely holding up. Nothing more remains of the Monsean Royal Library. Everything Death cares about is in ruins.

Almost everything.

"Come, you stubborn old fellow," he murmurs, crouching by the water bowl he's just filled. "You'll have to get out of there sometime."

Lovejoy emerges from under the desk and reluctantly consents to Death picking him up – but he does object to human tears falling on his fur.

_(Author's Note: This is for you, Queen Bitterblue - the fanfiction writer, that is.)_


	8. Whiskey and Rum

8. Whiskey and Rum (Darby)

Darby wonders what sleep feels like.

When he asks, most people only stare at him blankly, as if he had asked what breathing air is like, or standing on the ground. Death tersely recites the dictionary entry. Rood turns pale and mutters about his nightmares. Only the Lady Queen looks up with pitying gray eyes and tries to answer.

"It's like … everything goes soft and dark. You close your eyes, relax and forget everything – the whole world, even yourself."

Darby would gladly trade his curse of a Grace for this. Since he can't, he hits the bottle instead.


	9. War

10. War (Brigan/Fire, Hanna)

Brigan has known since the age of fifteen that a soldier's life is not glorious. It is blood, filth and death; the madness of battle and the nightmares that follow. And if you survive, you are promoted higher and higher, until you become responsible for hundreds of men and women and their suffering lies entirely on your conscience. He hates how gifted he is at this.

But coming home to a gentle embrace from Fire, and a scolding from Hanna for his long absence, reminds him what he is fighting for: to keep the Dells safe for them, whatever the cost.


	10. Weddings

10. Weddings (Fire/Brigan)

Fire in white, crowned by roses, is a sight to stop any man's breath. However, as she stands beside him in the courtyard of their cottage, beneath her favorite tree aflame with autumn leaves, beauty is not all that Brigan sees.

He sees her limp from a recent attack; her two missing fingers. He knows her scars, as she knows his. But he also sees her smiling as she looks at him, hears the hush of joy in her voice as they speak the vows.

He can _feel_ the love her power shows him, more beautiful than anything in the world.


	11. Birthday

11. Birthday (Katsa, Raffin)

For her tenth birthday, Katsa got a set of serrated knives from Randa and was ordered to start using them on his enemies.

That night, Raffin found her curled up on her bed, _not _crying, and cautiously offered her a cupcake with a candle.

"If you make a wish, it'll come true," he said.

She threw a knife, which he dodged, proving that she'd missed on purpose. Then she ate the cake.

_I wish I weren't a monster,_ she thought, blowing out the candle.

Turns out, a wish can easily come true if it's been true all along.


	12. Blessing

12. Blessing (Fire, Hanna)

"When you and Papa get married," Hanna asks, "Can I call you Mama?"

Fire demurs, thinking of Rose, whose early death sometimes still shadows Brigan's heart.

"Wouldn't it be … wrong … for me to take your mother's place?"

"But what if I _want _you to? I don't even remember her. You're … " Hanna sends feelings of comfort, friendship and heartfelt respect. "I'd be proud to have you as my mother."

_And I would be blessed to have you as my daughter._

Too close to tears for speech, Fire gathers the child into her arms. Short of giving birth herself, nothing could make her happier.


	13. Bias

13. Bias (Giddon/Bitterblue)

The reason Bitterblue chose Giddon for her experiment with honesty, as she told him, was that he is neither her relative nor her subject, and therefore she trusts him to be more impartial than either.

What she does not know is that ever since that first assassination attempt, when Giddon took the pins from her soft hair and carried her to bed – when the feeling of her in his arms reminded him, startlingly, that she was a woman now, and her courage in fighting off Danzhol won his deepest admiration – all his judgments are profoundly biased in her favor.


	14. Burning

14. Burning (Teddy)

Teddy was eight the first time his parents' print shop burned. His clearest memory, more than the smell of ash or even the burn scar on his arm, is of his mother crying into his father's shoulder and the distracted, almost mechanical way he held her in return.

He's an easy-going man, but that memory never fails to ignite a slow fire of rage inside his heart. Twenty years later, supporting Bren's back as she coughs up smoke, he feels that rage return.

He will prove Leck wrong – prove that the truth is impossible to kill.


	15. Breathing

15. Breathing (Mila/Nash)

"Just breathe," Nash repeats, squeezing Mila's hand. "You'll be fine."

"Why – are you here, Lord King?" she gasps through the combined haze of labor pains, the healer's drugs, and Fire's power. "You are not a healer – _or_ the father – "

"I'm a friend, and I wish to be here for you. And for the hundredth time, won't you call me Nash?"

She glares at his winning smile – "Rocks, this is _not_ the time!" – but keeps hold of his hand anyway.

By the time her son arrives and the healer hands him over, Mila can breathe again - and smile back.

"Thank you … Nash."


	16. Breaking

16. Breaking (Bellamew, Hava)

Bellamew learned early in her sculpting career that every stone has its shatterpoint: strike that, and the entire block crumbles to pieces. It was Leck who taught her that this applies to people too.

Hava is her shatterpoint. To lose her, this magical Graceling child, would break her entirely. This is why Bellamew hides her and lies about her death: to preserve what little sanity she has left. But when Leck discovers Bellamew's lie, none of his tortures can convince her to give Hava up. Her last thoughts are clear.

_My love is not my weakness, but my strength._


	17. Belief

17. Belief (Katsa/Po)

As she turns her back on Randa and follows the red carpet to the doors, every muscle tensed to react to a drawn sword or flying arrow, Katsa grits her teeth and battles down the monster in her mind.

It wants to whirl around, grab the nearest soldier's dagger and send it flying into Randa's hateful blue eye. It's howling for his blood, fit to deafen her. It has never been so strong.

But Po believes in her. In his mind-reading, gold-and-silver eyes, she is stronger than this – _better_ than this.

Po believes, and so does she.

Behind her, the doors close.


	18. Balcony

18. Balcony (Katsa/Po)

Katsa leans over the balcony railing, letting the cold wind bring a tingle to her cheeks. Miles below her, the waves crash against the cliff face, blindingly bright in the winter sun. She can see a ship, the white sail no larger than a beetle. A few steps, and she might fall.

"It's glorious!" she calls to Po behind her. "You were right. Your home does suit me."

"I knew you'd say so, Wildcat." She hears the smile in his voice as his arms wrap around her.

"Now, how about you come back to where it's warm?"


	19. Bane

19. Bane (Leck)

The moment Leck laid eyes on the silver-and-gold-eyed fighter, he knew the man was trouble. First he ordered his companion to shoot Leck, then to cover her ears. He knew Leck's Grace. Aside from Ashen, he was the first person to see through him since … (_flaming hair, poison-green eyes flashing contempt)_ a long time ago. Leck had met his equal, at long last. It would be a joy to kill him.

He could not have known that, instead of Po, it would be Po's nondescript companion who was destined to kill him.


End file.
